Learning French Independently?

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Nahtzee

Member
Jun 1, 2011
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Hello ~

It's been a goal of mine to learn French for quite some time now, but unfortunately I have no access to French classes in my area. Thus, I'm looking to learn French online.

For the most part I'm looking to at least be able to learn enough so I can have casual conversations, I may be interested in fluency on the road to come.

Does ATOT suggest any programs? Is my goal realistic given the my method of choice?
 
Zeze

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,395
1,189
126
Why do you want to learn French? I think it's bit pretentious and impractical. It's just France speaking it.

I've been trying to learn Spanish. Very practical and other half of the world speak it.
 
irishScott

irishScott

Lifer
Oct 10, 2006
21,562
3
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Zeze said:
Why do you want to learn French? I think it's bit pretentious and impractical. It's just France speaking it.

I've been trying to learn Spanish. Very practical and other half of the world speak it.
Click to expand...

You don't get out much do you?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_French_is_an_official_language
French_official_language_world_map.svg


By comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanophone#List_of_countries_with_Spanish-speaking_populations

Map-Hispanophone_World.png


All depends on what region you're interested in.
 
J

JDawg1536

Golden Member
Apr 27, 2006
1,275
0
76
Nahtzee said:
Hello ~

It's been a goal of mine to learn French for quite some time now, but unfortunately I have no access to French classes in my area. Thus, I'm looking to learn French online.

For the most part I'm looking to at least be able to learn enough so I can have casual conversations, I may be interested in fluency on the road to come.

Does ATOT suggest any programs? Is my goal realistic given the my method of choice?
Click to expand...

I would think it would be tough to learn to speak properly on your own. Rosetta Stone helps, but I don't think it teaches any rules or grammar structure. Buy some old French text books, get CDs, etc....
 
irishScott

irishScott

Lifer
Oct 10, 2006
21,562
3
0
Zeze said:
I bet I've been around way more than you do. All of canada? More like just quebec.
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1. Read the links.

2. Assuming you have traveled more than me, you said it was only France speaking French. Apparently, a: said travels haven't imparted much knowledge and b: you didn't pay attention in high school history.
 
Fern

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
174
106
Zeze said:
I bet I've been around way more than you do. All of canada? More like just quebec.
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I've traveled around too.

French has been quite useful outside of France. E.g., mighty handy in Portugal. Portuguese is a b1tch, at least for me, but many Portuguese have worked in France and learned the language so I could use it to communicate with them often. I also needed/used it when traveling in the Magreb. E.g., Morocco.

Certainly Spanish is the most useful (aside from English), but French is a close #2.

Fern
 
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tommo123

Platinum Member
Sep 25, 2005
2,617
48
91
i'm trying to learn french at the mo. i've found rosetta stone useful alongside pimsleur or michel thomas cds.

would recommend pims over mich tho though. the latter gets very random at parts and he is too easily distracted. also the disks have no editing at all and is very poorly done.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,758
13,863
126
www.anyf.ca
There's not even any French schools or colleges in your area? French is harder to learn than English, but it's doable. It's very good to know both as it makes getting a job so much easier. Lot of jobs require bilingualism. Pretty much anything customer service related. I got lucky and was raised French and went to French school, English was part of the preschool curriculum. I did got to college in English though, because it's just easier to learn technical terms in English as even the French tend to use the English terms.
 
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tommo123

Platinum Member
Sep 25, 2005
2,617
48
91
Red Squirrel said:
There's not even any French schools or colleges in your area? French is harder to learn than English, but it's doable. It's very good to know both as it makes getting a job so much easier. Lot of jobs require bilingualism. Pretty much anything customer service related. I got lucky and was raised French and went to French school, English was part of the preschool curriculum. I did got to college in English though, because it's just easier to learn technical terms in English as even the French tend to use the English terms.
Click to expand...

once you've done any french you learn that there are thousands of words that are virtually the same, just pronounced differently. that's where french becomes a pain. it doesn't follow the old rules. italian and spanish make far more sense in that regard - especially italian. still, there are around 7000 words that are pretty much identical. one thing that michel thomas' course had over pimsleur was throwing stuff like that at you (words ending in ent etc).

anyhoo, english and french i think are harder to master at different levels. english is awkward as hell to master (most descriptive language apparently?) but is far easier to get a basic handle on (far fewer words needed to function on a basic level and easier to structure) but french is easier to learn overall IMO.

said as someone whose english is a 2nd language and dabbled in the odd 1 or 2 more.
 
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